Sermon Shorts with Ben Smith

Pastor Ben compares the yoke of sin with the yoke of Christ from Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus invites sinners who are heavy-laden to come to Him and find rest in His yoke. The invitation is to exchange the yoke of sin for the yoke of Christ. One condemns and destroys the other redeems and gives life.

A clip from a sermon Pastor Ben Smith preached from Hebrews 12:1-6.

The work of the cross is complete and a testimony to the power of God. The work of sanctification continues in the hearts and lives of every believer. Our confidence is not in our ability or the ability of someone to help us. Our confidence is in Jesus, who completed the work of redemption on the cross and will perfectly complete the work of our faith in us.

Pastor Ben discusses the difference between joyfully obeying God’s commands in grace and meeting the demands of the law. Joyful obedience is different from obligated compliance. When you are bound to the law, you are obligated to obey its demands and suffer its judgment. When you are free in Jesus, you are free from the law, free to enjoy the righteousness of Jesus, and free to obey His commands willfully.

Before you can be obedient to the commands of Jesus, you must have faith that Jesus can accomplish His purpose and His will. When Christians have faith, they obey. Experiencing the power of God comes in the context of obeying God.

This week's sermon short is from the archives. It is from a sermon I preached in 2016 from Psalm 1 titled The Way of Righteousness.

What does it mean to delight in the Lord?

Psalm 1 teaches that the righteous take pleasure in the law of God. This is the truth that gives understanding to the second part of verse 2; "but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:2 ESV)

What we find pleasure in attracts our attention. Whatever has our attention, we will seek out. The one who delights in the law of God does not approach the law of God with dread but with joy. This pleasure is better than the world's pleasures because it satisfies, fulfills, and is never-ending.

Where the hopes and desires of the wicked are lost to the wind, the delight of the righteous is satisfied and fulfilled in the Lord. The way of sinners leads to rejecting God and scoffing. The way of righteousness leads to delighting in the Lord and meditating day and night on His word.

The work of atonement could only be accomplished by Jesus and has been accomplished by Jesus. The work is done. It is finished. You must decide to receive the gift of His atoning work by believing faith or to reject the cross. You cannot add more to what Jesus has done. You either must receive the gift or reject it.

The work of redemption is finished and offered to you today. Receive the free gift of the atonement and be saved today.

It is easy to recognize and condemn the sin we see in others. But all sin demands the sacrifice of the lamb of God. All sin is just as wicked, just as shameful, and just as costly as the vilest of sinner's sin. All sin is just as shameful as the sin of those who cried "crucify Him."

To the one who rejects Jesus, the cross remains offensive and ugly. But to the one who has been made clean by the blood of Jesus – the cross is beautiful and glorious! Come to Jesus. Bow before the King of kings. Believe in faith and be saved.

Direction is more important than location. We tend to give more importance to location, but where you are heading matters more than where you are. You may be far away from the Lord today, but God beckons you to draw near (direction language). And the beautiful promise is that no matter where you are - when your direction changes from chasing after the world to drawing near to God, God meets you where you are and exalts you to a right relationship with Him.

Babies are cute, and we find them adorable. Even though they are not potty trained, they often spit up, drool when teething, incessantly cry when hungry, have no patience, and have a very low tolerance to any discomfort we do not think ill of them because they are babies. However, if a teenager behaved like a baby, we would recognize it as a lack of proper development and needing treatment or discipline. If an adult acted like a baby, we would judge the person as mentally ill. It is ok to be immature in the faith. It is not ok to remain immature in the faith. It is ok to be a babe in Christ. It is not ok to remain a babe in Christ.

Have you heard about deepfakes? The technology is terrifying when you think about all the implications of how it could be used to destroy someone’s reputation or even cause havoc with the stability of governments.

The church has been countering deepfakes since the very beginning. There have always been some who claim to preach the word but actually weaken, manipulate, and twist the word to suit their desires and agendas. Such people are spiritual deepfakes. They look like they are preaching the word, they say they are preaching the word, but they are not.

The way these are confronted and countered is by knowing the word so that counterfeits are recognized, by preaching the word faithfully so that others can recognize such counterfeits, and by keeping close to the word so that when such fakes come along, they are quickly identified.

This is the mission of the church – to preach the word. In every season with all faithfulness, until Jesus returns – preach the word.